Animal-trap.



C. T. DARLING. ANIMAL TRAP.

APPLICATION FILED 111111. 2e. 1013.

1,084,071.. Patented Jan. 13, 1914.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH C0..WASH|NOTON. D. c'.

w -vi CHARLES T. DRLNG', F STONY ERGOK, NEW YGRlil.

insa-,err

Application filed March 28, 1913.

Specieation of Letters fatent.

Fate/ritmi il; in,

Serial No. 757,474.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that lf, CHARLES T. DnuLiNo, citizen of the United States, residing at ltony Brook, Long island, in the county of Suffolk and .State of New York, have invented new and useful `lmproveinents in Animal-Traps, of which the following,` is a specification.

'llhe general object of the invention is to refine the construction of mouse or rat traps in point of general otliciency. find to this end the invention resides in so arranging a pivoted platform and a pivoted bait holder as to have these. yield and -move relatively to each other when pressed simultaneously hy the animal, whereby, to effect the overbalancing` of the animal and the forming of a igiassag'e sufficiently large to allow the animal falling therethrough and into a liquid holding receptacle located beneath the platform.

@ther objects will appear and he better understood from that embodiment of my invention of which the follow' ig is a specification, reference being' had to the acconr panying drawings forming part hereof, in which Figure l is a perspective view of the de vice. Fig. 2 is a detail vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is an elevational view of a gate used in the trap..

a indicates the casing of the trap which .may he formed of any material found suitahle for the purpose, as metal, and indicates generally a liquid-holding;` receptacle. il portion of the bottom 5 of the casing1 is out awa y to provide an enlarged opening G and a, corresponding portion of the top 7 of the receptacle is out away to provide an opening` 8 which registers with the opening 6 when the casingv is superimposed upon the top 7 of the receptacle, as shown in the drawings.

Access to the interior of the casing is had through the entrance opening` 9 and the animal approaches this opening hy passing over an inclined plank l0 which is supported loy the floor or other hase upon which the trap rests, and the trap itself as shown in the drawings. An upwardly inclined runway 'll is suitably secured within the casing and arranged so as to forni a continuation of the plank l0. fr wicket or gate l2 is pivotally mounted wit-hin the casing a and extends into the path of the runway l1. As shown in Fig. 2, the upper end portion 13 of the runway is bent so as to function as a ledge for the lower end of the gate or wicket rlhus the ledge prevents the gate froiin moving to the right when positioned as shown in lilig. 2, whereby to pr ent the return of an animal that has passed under the gate, into the space between the grate and the entrance cud of the casing. Y

,i tiltahle platform lllpivotalh,7 mounted on a pin l5 within the casing` (t and ahore tho openings and 'llhis pivot pin l5 is so disposed that the ililatforni will 'always tend to occupy a l ont-al position but such tendent; on the part of the platform overci'zine hy the in sence of the ledge ll and a projecting end portion lo on the plat form which is o si he path of he ledge, whereby to c iperate wil' i the latter lll to prevent the platform frein inoi'ing; in one direction beyond that shown in li'io 9 That end of the platform. which is r ed hy the ledge as shiswn in Fig'. carries a `ojuard l? which ascends with the platform under the weight of an animal positioned en part of the platform to the left of the pivot, whereby to pre-rent the entrance of a succeeding animal into the space helow the platform when the pla worin is tilted from the position shown in v o. Q, and further to increase the weight of the end. of the platforni on the right in the said Fig, whereby to provide for the return of the platform to the position shown in Fig. 2 after the weight of the annual is removed therefrom. The hait holder i8 is pivotally mounted as indicated at if) within the easingI a and positioned directly in front of tho lower end of the platform lei. i nis hait holdvided with a hook 2O for the hait 2l and the disposition of the hook is such as to hold the bait suiliciently high ahove the lower end of the platform to compel an animal to stand upright in order to have access to the hait. New by so disposing the hool; 2l it will he manifest that when the animal standing upright and his ire feet placed on the haitor on the hody 18 of the holder, the latter will yield to the left in Fin'. 2 so that in the event of the hind feet of -the animal being;` positioned to the right of the pivot in Fig. Q or the animal otherwise disposed on the platform so as to prevent the latter from tilting, the yieldingI of 4he hait holder will cause the animal to tread. farther toward the lower end of the platform in order to follow up the bait and until such time as D el D lll@ his weight overcomes the heavier end of the platform at which time the platform will tilt and owing to the large opening between the platform and the bait holder now had by these parts moving relatively to each other, precipitation of the animal into the body of liquid 22 in the tank, will be readily effected. lVhen pressure is removed from the bait holder the same is moved to its normal position under the action of a weak retractile spring 23, and a stop 24 at the upper end of a plate i5 insures against overthrow of the platform to the left beyond the position shown in Fig. 2.

lllhen desired to electrocute the trapped animal prior to precipitating it into the fluid receptacle l make use of a pair of contact plates 26-26 and arrange these on the opposite end portions of the platform 14. As shown at 2T-27, these plates are insulated from the platform. The plates are connected to binding posts 28-28 and these in turn are connected by the conducting wires 29 29 to the binding` posts 30-30 suitably connected to the side wall of the casing a.. Electric circuit wires for the binding posts E30-30 are indicated by 31-31.

lli/*hat is claimed as new is:

l. A trap comprising a casing provided at the bottom with an opening, a runway located in the casing and inclined upwardly from one end of the casing toward one end of said opening, and having a downwardly inclined inner end portion, a gate pivoted in the casing at a point between vertical lines intersecting the ends of the upwardly inclined bottom of the runway and normally resting at its free edge against the downwardly inclined end portion of the runway, and a platform pivoted in the casing at a point above the opening and normally lying in alinement with the downwardly inclined inner edge portion of the runway the lower edge of the platform normally lying at a level above the bottom of the casing and adapted to pass through the opening when the platform is swung.

2. A trap comprising a casing provided at its bottomL with an opening, a runway located in the casing and inclined upwardly o from one end of the casing toward one en of the said opening, and having a downwardly inclined inner end portion, a gate pivoted in the casing and normally resting at its free edge against the downwardly inclined inner end portion of the runway, a platform pivoted in the casing at a point above the opening and normally lying in alinement with the downwardly inclined portion of the runway, a spring held panel pivoted in the casing at a point above the opening and beyond the lower edge of the platform and a bait holder mounted upon the panel below the point of pivotal connection between the panel and the casing and above the lower edge of the platform.

ln testimony whereof l affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES T. DARLING.

Witnesses Gro. Si. BrnNn, JOHN A. BoNnGAN.

Copies o1' this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

